Why putting spit hoods on people is risky — and can be deadly

On Christmas Eve 2022, Sarafina Dennie was preparing a holiday meal for her family when she got a phone call informing her that her brother was in hospital.

Shortly after she arrived at his bedside, Nicous D’André Spring, 21, was pronounced dead.

Initially, the family had little information about the circumstances leading to his death. Spring had spent the past few days behind bars at Montreal’s Bordeaux jail, where he’d been taken after being arrested for breaking a court-ordered curfew.

At the time of his death, Spring was being illegally detained. The previous day, Dec. 23, 2022, a judge had ordered his release. 

What happened next was only revealed when reporters obtained internal staff incident reports. 

Guards describe Spring, who’d been diagnosed with schizophrenia, as unstable and having difficulty managing his emotions. 

A fight broke out with another inmate and correctional officers intervened. Guards pepper-sprayed the young man and forced him into a spit hood, a head covering made of mesh and fabric that first responders put on people to protect themselves from being spit on. 

Handcuffed and hooded, Spring was thrown into a shower, where he was pepper-sprayed once more. When staff took him to his cell, they realized Spring was no longer breathing.  

The case made headlines, fuelling questions about use of force and the tools guards may use in detention. 

“I had never heard of a spit hood,” said Dennie. “The only thing I could do was hire lawyers.”

An investigation by CBC’s the fifth estate and Radio-Canada's Enquête identified 17 fatal incidents involving spit masks in Canada, including Spring’s, over the last two decades. The fifth estate and Enquête were able to confirm that in nearly every case, the mask seems to have been misused.

Across Canada, training and policies governing use of these devices are inconsistent and sometimes non-existent, the investigation also found.

This is worrisome, says crisis intervention expert Michael Arruda.

“If not used properly, [spit hoods] might cause damage or even death.”